Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) were among the Republican lawmakers who introduced legislation Thursday to cut the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) red tape on background checks.
Other co-sponsoring senators included James Lankford (R-OK), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Tim Sheehy (R-MT).
The legislation is the ATF Transparency Act. It is focused on the bureaucratic process that often results in law-abiding gun owners being mistakenly flagged or denied background check passage via a false positive or some other error occurring behind the scenes.
Risch commented on the legislation, saying, “Law-abiding gun owners wrongfully denied their Second Amendment rights should be able to appeal their case through an efficient, transparent process. My ATF Transparency Act is simple. It codifies the current appeals process, holds the ATF to a higher standard, and gives Idaho’s lawful gun owners a faster, fairer process for firearm applications.”
Daines commented too, saying, “The Second Amendment is an integral part of our Montana way of life, and law-abiding citizens should not have to worry about their constitutional rights being denied because of a processing error. This legislation will create a quick and transparent appeals process for Montanans who have been wrongfully flagged by the ATF, and I’ll continue to stand up for our right to keep and bear arms.”
Aidan Johnston, Gun Owners of America’s director of federal affairs, said:
Gun Owners of America is proud to endorse Sen. Risch’s legislation to eliminate ATF’s bureaucratic loopholes in the already unconstitutional National Firearms Act. ATF has deceived Congress and the American public with inaccurate NFA approval estimates for far too long. There is no reason that a NFA approval time should take longer than a normal background check, especially since ATF has shown they are able to rapidly approve forms after Congress instructed them to. A Right Delayed is a Right Denied.
One aspect of the ATF Transparency Act “[requires] the ATF to process applications within 3 days. If the ATF fails to do so, applications will be automatically approved.” Such a time-frame is intended to focus on the importance of finalizing a background quickly so that law-abiding citizens are delayed in exercising their Second Amendment rights.
